


suddenly we all got young

by euphrasiepontmercy



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: "they called me coach" killed me and this is the product, Gen, Songfic, brolympics part 2, more angsty than expected but it all ends up okay, shakespeare references bc of course, yay office bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29708658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euphrasiepontmercy/pseuds/euphrasiepontmercy
Summary: a miraculous week off leads to a revival of some office games, and chaos ensues. title and lyrics from "good day" by jukebox the ghost
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	suddenly we all got young

**Author's Note:**

> okay i legit began writing this before s2e4 even aired and i've been editing it to fit canon since then-i've just been So Freakin Busy but anyway yay brolympics

“And how are things going on the fourth floor?”

The streetcar pulled to a stop at an intersection as Zoey pondered her cousin’s question. Victoria watched as her blue eyes defaulted to stress, blinked, and then realized-

“Pretty good, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Zoey laughed in disbelief, “we’ve finally cleared up the watch and that error in the Chirp. Simon’s leading a meeting next week, which is great, but until then...”

Fully expecting another project to be flooding in, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her emails and calendar, but they were almost completely empty.

“It’s Monday, and there’s... _ nothing _ we have to do this week.”

She looked over at her cousin, whose eyes widened at the information before a laugh burst from her throat.

“What?”

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just- _ this is amazing.” _

“Is it? I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself, and I don’t even want to know what the brogrammers are going to be up to-”

“I was just told that my-that the piano’s going to be tuned this week.  _ All week. _ I thought I’d be incredibly bored, but since I wouldn’t be interrupting anything, would you mind if I just came to hang out on the fourth floor?”

“I don’t see why not. I’m sure there’ll be a few brainstorming sessions, and I’ve seen you fielding arguments-you’re good at creating and dealing with ideas, you’ll be fine up there.”

Not used to being seen in the workplace as anything outside of her musical talents, Victoria was touched by the compliment. The little girl who’d hung on her cool older cousin’s every word resurfaced for a moment in her eyes, and she smiled.

“I’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

\----

The elevator opened, and Zoey, having already been locked and loaded just outside the door, grabbed her cousin’s arm and dragged her toward the bullpen.

“Wha-”

“Okay, hopefully it won’t be as bad as last time, but now that there are more people and nothing else to do, they’ve somehow resurrected the competitions from a few weeks ago and the Brolympics are stronger than ever.”

“...Oh, dear God.”

Victoria tried to hide a smile as she and Zoey, unnoticed, made their way to the brainstorming session that was currently taking place in the bullpen. The brainstorming, however, didn’t have a thing to do with work; Tobin had taken control of the whiteboard, and he was rapidly writing people’s game ideas in a surprisingly organized chart with “BROLYMPICS” printed in neon green marker across the top. Among the noise, Cass was whispering something to Yasmeen, MacKenzie was locked in a heated debate with Sam, and Leif was watching from the side, his face in his hands.

Zoey gingerly rolled her desk chair to the outside of the circle of programmers and sat in it. Seeing that there were no chairs left, Victoria stood behind her cousin and looked over at Leif, attempting to make eye contact. He eventually lifted his head, and his eyes met hers, trying to wordlessly communicate his worry. She nodded slightly, and they turned back to the board, where there had been a lull in conversation and Tobin had called on MacKenzie.

“Okay, look. I’ll give you the name, considering that there’s  _ apparently _ no other pun that would fit,” she said annoyedly, “but do we really have to play  _ Urinal Cake Hockey?” _

“Let them have it, Kenzie,” Yasmeen said, “we’ll probably beat them at it anyway.”

The taller coder tilted her head and sat down, leaning back in her chair.

“Fair point.”

A few seconds passed in intimidated silence. Shaking himself out of the unexplainable wide-eyed stare that had taken over his expression, Tobin turned back to the whiteboard and indicated the list of names that took up the top row of his chart.

“Now, are we sure that everyone who dares to participate is properly signed up? This event is not for the faint of heart,” he called dramatically, whipping his marker through the air in a clearly rehearsed series of swishes, “but we will gladly accept more competitors to absolutely demolish.”

Saying this, he grinned at Leif, who gave a pained thumbs-up and tried to smile back before turning to his girlfriend with panicked eyes and a clear expression of  _ help me, we need a voice of reason here. _

Victoria nodded.

_ Already planning on it. _

“We’ll join, Tobin.”

She raised her hand and Zoey’s, and this was the first time that the non-Leif inhabitants of the room noticed that the cousins were even there.

“Wait,” Zoey hissed,  _ “we?” _

“Sorry,” Victoria whispered back, “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

She turned back to Tobin with a slightly strained smile, and he nodded.

“Dope. We’ve got the gingers.”

He added two more columns to the chart with a flourish of finality.

“Let the Brolympics begin.”

\----

After a few games, the scoreboard had been gradually filling up, and the last activity of the morning had been set as Bottle Flipping. Minutes had passed quickly as the programmers attempted flip after flip, completely engrossed in the rush of competition. It was currently Sam’s turn; just as he was about to break the record set by the previous Brolympics, his wrist twitched as he flipped the bottle, which landed on its side. The room erupted into groans, taunts, and sympathetic cheers, and Sam took his second-place status with melodramatic resignation.

“None of us could have beaten George at that.”

“Hear, hear,” Victoria said, raising her water bottle. “I do miss him.”

“In his memory,” MacKenzie said, calling for everyone’s attention as she stood up, “I suggest our next game should be N-”

The arrival of lunch interrupted her proposal; almost everyone rushed to eat, and the only topic of conversation was how best to spend the rest of the day. It was decided that, in order to maintain efficiency in how best to spend the week (at which point both Leif and Zoey had attempted to interject something about how it was  _ actually _ best to spend the week), those playing certain games would be split into groups from now on.

“Think of it this way,” Victoria said to Leif as they stood to the side, observing the flurry of ideas whose energy far exceeded anything put toward the coders’ actual jobs. “The sooner we get through these games, the sooner we can actually do something with this week.”

“Which means,” Leif muttered with a slowly growing and devilish grin, “it would...be in our  _ eventual _ best interest...to utterly crush this competition.”

“Precisely.”

They stifled their laughter for a moment, and it eventually died down when blue eyes caught on hazel and became thoughtful.

“Tori, to be honest-and a bit selfish-I almost don’t mind the week going on longer.”

“Really?”

She studied his face, and he looked to the ground with a smile, shaking his head before meeting her eyes.

“I’m just...really glad you’re here.”

He took her hand, and she leaned into his shoulder, half as a symptom of how she’d simply melted and half as an attempt to hide the smile that had quickly taken over her entire being. A few moments passed before they were startled by the sudden hands on both of their shoulders; Tobin was behind them, grinning.

“I’ve taken it upon myself to sign you lovebirds up for ping-pong, but we still need to recruit one more person,” he said as he led them to the gaming area with an arm around each. “Any ideas?”

“Simon’s really good at it,” Victoria suggested, “but he’s probably...doing actual work things. We wouldn’t want to disturb him.”

As if on cue, the spokesperson turned the corner that the trio had been coming up on, scrolling through his emails. He greeted them with his usual smile, but his eyes became wide as he scanned the scene that was currently playing out in the bullpen.

“What’s, uh…”

Tobin nodded with a grin, let go of his hold on his friends, and started leading Simon into the action. After a worried glance toward each other, Leif and Victoria followed them, managing to catch a few words of their conversation: Tobin was explaining the activities for the week and extending an invitation to join.

“I’ve got about twenty minutes,” Simon said with a shrug, and Tobin let out a triumphant whoop as the group continued toward the ping-pong table.

The game area was buzzing with activity. Zoey was absolutely demolishing the pinball competition, and her coworkers stood in awe as they witnessed the perfectly calculated flurry of popping buttons, flashing lights, and blaring sound effects. Victoria smirked with satisfaction at the respect that was growing in their eyes; yes, it should have been there long ago, but at least this was something.

“Okay,” Tobin had been saying, rapidly tapping at his phone. “I’ve pulled up a pairing randomizer to pick teams. Brace yourselves.”

The other three exchanged awkward glances as Tobin took a serious, centering breath before pressing the button with a flourish, his eyes squeezed shut. When he opened them, he quickly read the screen before smiling and beginning to pass out paddles.

“Tori, we’re a team. Limon, get over to the other side.”

_ “Limon?” _

He shrugged.

“What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good team name.”

Tobin gave a winning smile and served the tiny plastic ball, which Simon easily returned. As they focused into the game, the four fell into a rhythm, with the bounces and hits almost creating a beat.

The  _ almost _ turned into a  _ definitely _ when a familiar piano accompaniment started to fade in and the beat of the ping-pong became steadier. Victoria’s eyebrows shot up as an electric guitar came in; she  _ knew  _ this song. Because she and Zoey did research about most of the heartsongs they heard, this had quickly become her favorite band, and she couldn’t keep a smile from slowly growing across her face as she remembered the serenade that had introduced her to them.

As the introduction continued, she managed to keep up with the game, putting in every bit of effort to keep the beat going while trying to guess who would sing and why. Looking up, she noticed that Zoey was hearing it too and had quickly finished her streak of pinball winnings to pay more attention.

It was Tobin that first set down his paddle, but the ball continued to bounce off of empty air as if he was still playing. He stepped back from the table and surveyed the fourth floor with a smile, weaving among the programmers as he sang.

_ “I think that I would like to invite everyone I’ve known, dead and alive, to a street where we can be finally free.” _

He stepped out of the fray and circled the bullpen, walking on beat to make his way back to the ping-pong table.

_ “And they will come in droves, wearing their hearts on their sleeves.” _

Now addressing the verse to his teammate and competitors, he threw an arm around Leif as he circled the table, looking between him and Victoria. Upon being touched, the taller coder seemed to bleed into the song, watching as Tobin once more took up his paddle and continued the game.

_ “But, oh, how good it felt to have ‘em worn just like they should.” _

A smile could easily be heard in Tobin’s voice as he sang, and he spun backwards, repeatedly bouncing the ball on his paddle in an impressive series of taps that Victoria was fairly sure could only exist in the heartsong.

_ “And everybody here wants to know…” _

He hit the ball across the table and transitioned back into reality; the song seemed to pass with the ball as it hurtled toward Leif, who hit it back. For a moment, time was frozen, and the ball hung suspended in midair. Victoria stood silently in anticipation as Leif stumbled away from the table and looked over the bullpen, trying to catch his breath.

_ It’s been weighing on him, all of this has. _

She sensed that Zoey was now at her side, and they looked at each other.

“You know this one?”

The younger woman nodded as they looked back toward Leif, who turned his head and began the chorus.

_ “Did everybody say what a good day that it was?” _

The moment that the beat dropped, the world around them fell back into movement, and every movement made seemed to fit itself into the pulse of the song. Long strings of markers crashed, office chairs rolled, and silenced cheers rang out, all in time with the well-defined rhythm that came from nowhere. Leif made his way through the programmers and studied each of their faces, desperately searching for an inkling of approval.

_ “For everybody who said what a good day that it was-did they smile ‘cause they like it, did they smile ‘cause they like it, did they? Woah, oh.” _

An instrumental break began, and the games seemed to become even more choreographed. Simon and Tobin continued playing ping-pong as if no one had left, the group that had been crowded around Zoey high-fived each other on beat, and those in the bullpen almost abandoned their games to look intently toward Leif, who stood in the center, gazing helplessly at the people around him.

Victoria felt a tap on her shoulder for the second time that day, and she turned to see Zoey looking back toward the ping-pong table; Tobin, who had been pulled in and out of the song as it progressed, was now fully back in, and he was making his way to his friend. He looked at Victoria as he passed her, something soulful in his eyes asking her to accompany him, and she followed after a nod and a glance toward her cousin.

Tobin cautiously approached Leif, with Victoria not far behind, as if finally seeing what was happening to him. When the taller man looked up, Tobin laid a hand on his shoulder and began to sing the second verse.

_ “Suddenly we all got young, running circles around ourselves just for fun.” _

The rest of the bullpen had now snapped back to reality, and Tobin spun his friend around, gesturing to the joy and camaraderie around them in an attempt to cheer him up. Leif was nodding and trying to smile, but his anxiety was still as clear as day.

_ This boy… _

Victoria took his hand, and he turned to her in surprise, adding his voice to the verse as she shook her head with a smile and started to harmonize with them.

_ “And, oh, how good it felt to be young and loved and feel it in our bones!” _

Feeling the draw of the heartsong at the back of her brain, Victoria fell into the choreography and pulled Leif into a spin. When they came out of it, having been propelled toward the standing desk, she saw that Tobin had taken a place at the top of the staircase and commanded the attention of the room.

_ “But everybody here wants to know…did everybody say what a good day that it was?” _

He began conducting the rest of the programmers as they joined in the chorus, starting almost inaudibly and growing in volume and intensity as it repeated. Victoria turned to Leif to find that he had already been looking at her; something told her that this was outside of the heartsong. As the music pulsed and blared, they looked back into the fray, and she felt his grip on her hand tighten.

_ He’s shaking. _

She wrapped an arm around him and leaned into him once more as he shut his eyes against the overwhelming orchestral sound. He may not have been hearing it in the same way she was, but she was sure that the reality of the events was giving off the same energy as the song, and it was affecting him in such a way that Victoria was almost driven to tears.

As Tobin continued to direct the repeated chorus, he made his way down the stairs toward the pair, but slowed it down when he noticed their facial expressions. As he neared them, Victoria squeezed Leif’s hand, and he opened his eyes to meet his friend’s worried gaze. Tobin brought his arm down, breaking from the sweeping motions he’d conducted with, and the voices behind him gradually faded until he was the only one left singing.

_ “For everybody who said what a good day that it was…” _

There was a pause, and Leif took in a shaking breath before singing the next line, asking it directly of the people beside him.

_ “Did they smile ‘cause they like it, did they smile ‘cause they like it, did they?” _

Victoria looked around and made eye contact with Zoey, who seemed almost dizzy at the constant changes in the structure of the heartsong as she looked back at the trio with sympathy and a sincere nod.

They were indeed smiling, they did indeed like it-

_ “Woah, oh.” _

Singing the last few notes, Victoria looked up at Leif and brushed away a tear that had formed at the side of his eye. The music continued in the background as the programmers slowly fell back into reality. They started making their way back to the ping-pong table, where Simon was still standing, executing flawless taps of the ball in time with the rhythm of the song. He seemed to have been unaffected, but he looked up as his teammate stepped up to the table, giving a nod which was returned as Leif pulled himself together.

As the song ended with a steady, syncopated rhythm carried out by the strike and bounce of the ball, Zoey looked worriedly at her cousin, who shrugged helplessly and took her own place next to Tobin.

“We’ll…”

_ Somehow, life has to move on, even through the song…I guess. _

“We’ll talk about it.”

Zoey nodded and went back to the pinball machine, where her crowd of now-adoring fans was cheering for the idea of another round. While watching her, Victoria attempted to serve the ping-pong ball, but she was too deep in thought to focus and it bounced up to hit her glasses just as the last beat rang out.

She sighed, and just as she was about to try again, a ding came from the general direction of Simon’s jacket and he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Sorry, I have to go,” he said, replacing his phone and clapping his hands together. “This has been...fun.”

“Same time tomorrow?”

In response to Tobin’s question, he gave one of his ever-charming, ever-genuine smiles as he left the gaming area.

“Same time tomorrow.”

“Same time tomorrow,” Leif said in a voice small enough to be unheard by anyone but the two others left at the table.

Tobin looked at the girl next to him before turning his attention to his friend.

“Dude, something’s been up with you all day. What’s going on?”

Leif took a moment, staring intently down at the paddle he’d been twirling in his hand.

“I-”

He sighed, seeming about to shut down, before looking up to meet the gazes of the people across the table from him. Victoria desperately tried to telepathically communicate her compassion, not saying anything for fear of interrupting him if he were to tell them anything.

“I just didn’t want to do this in the first place, and now that it’s happening, a lot of it is placed on my shoulders, and I want it to be  _ great. _ I want it to be one of those-those absurdly unrealistic movie memories, one of those montages of coworker bonding, something that people will look back on fondly,” he said breathlessly before pausing and absentmindedly running a hand through his hair. “And...if they look back on it fondly...they’ll look back on me in the same way.”

_ “...Dude.” _

As much as she didn’t want to, Victoria almost laughed at the heartbroken tone in Tobin’s voice that juxtaposed so perfectly with the simple expression. Pulling herself together, she looked at Tobin before pulling her gaze back to Leif, her Leif, her insecure, tortured, brilliantly beautiful,  _ God, he needs to know that people love him,  _ her Leif.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts as Tobin shook his head and tried to respond.

“Leif, it’s…”

He couldn’t think of a thing to say, and he put a hand on his neck, looking around as if the words would be plastered on the windows.

“Look over there.”

They did.

“All of those people are having the  _ time of their lives.” _

It was true. Mackenzie, Cass, and Yasmeen had quickly become the three musketeers of marker jousting, Billy was rocketing across the room in an office chair, Glen was chugging smoothies from the smoothie bar like there was no tomorrow; it was the picture of chaos-pure, glorious chaos.

“You don’t have to worry about it, bro. They’ll remember this for quite a long time. They love you, I know they do.”

Victoria, now unable to hide her soft smile, turned to Tobin gratefully.

_ A man of constant surprises, indeed. _

“And so do we.”

Leif looked up at the sound of his girlfriend’s voice, slightly unconvinced. Upon seeing the note of doubt in his expression- _ how could anyone have ever said he was arrogant- _ Victoria laid her hands on the table and looked him in the eye.

“I love you. Leif, I always have, I always will. And so does Tobin-he’s been in your life for years, and he hasn’t left you.”

“Facts”, Tobin said, nodding sagely.

“So do the girls, although you might not think so-they see that you’re really trying. So does Zoey, even if she tries not to. So does every single person on that floor. Not because you’re a good manager, not because you’ve got whatever kind of degree, not because you’re letting them goof off during work-because you always add something intelligent and witty to a conversation, because you’re delightfully awkward but perfectly able to pull off smooth professionalism if you need to, because the way you talk about the things and the  _ people _ you love makes your eyes light up like a deep pool that anyone would feel perfectly safe falling into, because of a million other reasons that I won’t go into because, as a person who’s desperately in love with you, I may be slightly biased-because you’re just  _ you. _ And even if this week isn’t perfect, they’ll still love you. And if they don’t-”

“Screw ‘em!”

“Thank you, Tobin. Screw ‘em.”

She took a breath, realizing that she hadn’t planned to spew that much out, and let out a shaking laugh that had been stuck in the back of her throat.

Leif, whose eyes were glassy and cast somewhat to the side, nodded slowly.

“That is...definitely the most aggressive reassurance I’ve ever heard.”

Victoria chuckled along with Tobin and tilted her head hopelessly.

“Did it help at all?”

He lifted his head and raised an eyebrow- _ damnit, that scar _ -and looked between the people on the other side of the table with a slight smile that was both exhausted and relieved.

“I’m just...not used to being loved like that.”

Victoria’s head rolled back in disbelief, and she slowly made her way around the table toward him.

“Get used to it, babe. I’m learning to, too. We all are.”

He pulled her into him and kissed her with a smile. A few moments passed before-

“Gross.”

She reluctantly broke away, laughing, and they kept looking at each other as Tobin continued.

“I guess I have no choice but to set you up against each other in a marker jousting tournament.”

Leif cocked his head quizzically, not breaking eye contact.

“I’d be into it.”

“I would as well.”

“I think you just made it worse.”

This last statement came from Zoey, who’d completed her reign in pinball and had now joined the other three. Tobin jokingly rolled his eyes before addressing her.

“You’ll play with your cousin, I’ll be a team with my boy, and we’ll try not to make it a Romeo and Juliet situation.”

“Come on, man,” Leif said, “you know you wouldn’t hate that. You killed it as Mercutio in middle school.”

“You mean to say that  _ you  _ killed  _ me.” _

Victoria groaned and clapped out a  _ ba-dum-tss _ on the ping-pong table as the group started to make their way back to the bullpen. When they fell into step next to each other, Zoey quickly grabbed her cousin’s arm and whispered a question.

“What does he mean by-”

“Leif apparently played Tybalt.”

“Okay.”

A few seconds of silence passed.

“And who’s that again?”

Victoria couldn’t help but laugh.

“Call Mo as soon as you can. We are  _ definitely _ doing a movie night.”

They’d reached the center of the bullpen, and Mackenzie, who’d completely embraced the theatrics of the situation, gallantly handed Zoey her marker sword with a smirk.

“Let the games begin.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was honestly so fun to write-i thought at first it would just be light office bonding, etc, but it kinda got to be more than that as i continued writing. hope yall enjoyed-there's more s2 tori coming!!!


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